


Raiding the Raiders

by danceswithhamsters01



Series: Reddit Prompts [32]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Gen, Grey Wardens, Kidnapping, Raiders/Pirates, Rescue Missions, Sailing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 11:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17424818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithhamsters01/pseuds/danceswithhamsters01
Summary: Based on a prompt from r/dragonage.The Teynir of Highever has sent out a call for help with a raider problem. Citizens are being kidnapped from their homes. Ferelden's Warden-Commander has heard the call, commandeered a ship, and is inbound with help. The story as seen and heard from the eyes and ears of that ship's captain.





	Raiding the Raiders

**Prompt 6:** [Visual Prompt](<http://www.kartinkijane.ru/pic/201411/1920x1080/kartinkijane.ru-73470.jpg>)

 

“Are you sure this is going to work? I’m not knocking your idea, but...”

 

“You’re the captain, you deal with the ship. I’m the mage, I’ll deal with the weather,” the short pale woman said flatly.

 

Thunder rang out and a bolt of lightning flew from the clouds and into the white-capped sea below. The Waking Sea was anything but tranquil on most days in the winter time, but it seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that particular day. The winds were fierce and clawed at the sails with savagery. It was only by the efforts of the mage standing several paces away from the captain that the ship was protected from the worst of what the weather could offer.

 

More thunder and lightning heralded them as they headed west. They’d set off from Amaranthine and were bound for Highever. Teyrn Fergus Cousland had called for aid. Raiders had taken to attacking the coasts of the still-recovering terynir. The death toll in Highever’s lands from the civil war had been staggering. Almost no family had been spared. Nearly everyone had lost someone or several someones. Rumor had it that citizens were being taken, either to be held for ransom or sold into slavery. Rather than march, the Commander had taken control of one of the warships in the city’s harbor, which was technically her right as the arlessa, and was currently speeding them along the waves with the aid of magic.

 

Counting the mage herself, a dozen souls in various forms of Grey Warden uniforms were aboard, along with a platoon of soldiers currently staying out of the rain below decks. Just before they’d set off, she’d ordered the arling’s heraldry, a bear on all fours, to be taken down and replaced with the Grey Warden’s griffon against a field of blue. When pressed about it, she’d explained that she didn’t want to stir up any past hurts about the teyrn’s deceased family. During the Blight, the previous arl had led an attack that had resulted in the capture of the teynir and the slaughter of the ruling family, save for Fergus himself, who had been headed for Ostagar at the time.

 

All too soon, they came upon one of the coastal villages. Several ships, none of them as large as the galleon the Wardens’ forces were aboard, were moored nearby. None of them flew any of the colors of Ferelden’s lands. He caught the Commander’s gaze growing hard.

 

“Perry, go below and get the men ready for landfall. Make sure they are ready to fight,” she growled. The elven Warden nodded and rushed out of sight.

 

Another crack of thunder and lightning split the sky. “Jana, get the archers ready. Make sure their ammo is aflame. We don’t want to let the slime escape. Either they will surrender or they will die,” the Commander said in a sharp voice. Jana swallowed hard but nodded before leaving.

 

It seemed like a blur to the captain after the ship made landfall. Soldiers poured out and followed a tall red-headed male Warden to the village proper, a war cry ringing out. Archers were following a blonde woman, the Warden called Jana, and lined up on the shore. She began an incantation, causing the heads of the nocked arrows to flare to life with flame. After a barked order from a raven-haired man, also in Warden armor, fiery bolts began pelting the closest of the raider ships. One of the main sails began to glow orange from the flames licking at it. The captain felt a small bit of relief that he wasn’t on the wrong side of the Wardens’ wrath.

 

Perry and the Commander remained on the ship. One of the raider ships appeared to be trying to pull away. He heard the small woman growl.

 

“Captain, intercept those cowards. Get us within line of sight.”

 

The ship glided so much faster than what the crew was accustomed to, thanks in part to the pair of mages manipulating the winds in their favor. They cut off the smaller ship, getting dangerously close. So close, in fact, that they could shout to the other ship and be heard.

 

“Ho there, friend. Perhaps it has not reached the ears of whatever pisspot you work for, but Loghain has been dead for years now! Slavery is illegal in Ferelden! Those are subjects of the Crown that you’re harassing,” he heard the Commander call out.

 

“You’re flying Grey Warden colors. I thought Wardens were supposed to be neutral?’ a man from the other ship answered.

 

“The king is a personal friend of mine. I know for a fact that he’d be extremely upset that you’re harming his people. What say we discuss this like civilized people?”

 

An arrow shot from the other ship, narrowly missing Commander Amell. He watched her pull the missile up from the floor plank in front of her. Twirling it in her fingers, she said to the elven Warden, “It would seem they’re uncivilized. Shall we show them what we do to barbarian kidnappers?”

 

A fireball flew toward the raider ship’s helm, while a bolt of lightning snapped the main mast in two. Panicked screams from the other ship reached the captain’s ears.

 

“Care to rethink your previous answer?” she called out.

 

Several hours and four gutted raider ships later, survivors of the wrecked ships were brought to shore. Two of the captains and a handful of raider crewmen were held in chains. The captain shook his head in saddened bewilderment at the memory of the other two raider captains going down with their flaming ships, defiant to the end. A headcount discovered no fewer than 36 persons, most of them elves, rescued from the raiders. Most were from villages along Highever’s coast.

 

The captain listened as the Commander gave orders to Warden Howe to oversee efforts to help the battered village set up something resembling safe shelter for the night. The rescued civilians would need somewhere to rest until further arrangements could be made. Some of them had their homes ransacked and burnt to the ground, while others hailed from different settlements miles away.

 

“And what are you going to do, Commander?” Howe asked.

 

Amell yanked on a chain, making one of the captured captains whimper, and replied, “We’re going on a little hike to Castle Cousland to personally deliver a ‘gift’ to the Teyrn.”

 

“Have mercy! He’ll have us hung!” the other captive captain pleaded.

 

“Hey, don’t blame this on me,” the Commander said loudly over the thunder and rain, “I gave you a chance to talk things out and you shot at me. This is your own damn fault. Now march!”

 

The ship’s captain watched as Commander Sevarra Amell and the red-headed Warden and a handful of soldiers marched off with the prisoners in tow. Sometimes the wheel of justice ground slowly but surely, other times, he mused, it got a little push. That day, he witnessed it getting a shove.


End file.
